F1 News

Williams have made healthy development over winter break

Williams have made "healthy development" over winter break

17-02-2020 09:05 Last update: 09:08

Williams' Design Director Doug McKiernen says that the team have made good strides over the winter break in the aim of catching up with F1's midfield in 2020. Williams had by far the worst car throughout 2019 but revealed 2020's car on Monday morning with a renewed sense of hope.

The team have signed Nicholas Latifi to partner the promising George Russell for 2020, but they'll need a car capable of challenging the midfield if they want to score points.

McKiernen said: “The team at the factory have been working incredibly hard on the development of the car for the 2020 season.

“We have paid significant attention to understanding the problem areas of the FW42 and we have carefully chosen parts of the car to develop, those that would give us the most performance for the resources we have. The main concept behind the FW43 is that it is a continuous development of the FW42, with no fundamental concept changes to the layout. 

“There has been a healthy development rate in the wind tunnel, and we have found reasonable improvements in the cooling efficiency. The team has addressed the mechanical issues that affected it in 2019, these include the brakes and the overall weight of the car. We have made some good progress across these areas and will continue to focus on them during the season.”